As we do business, we create wealth – not only financial wealth, but also social, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual wealth. The Bible talks about wealth in three ways: wealth creation, sharing and hoarding. The last is condemned. Wealth sharing is encouraged and is often facilitated through NGOs and churches, but there is no wealth to be shared unless it has been created. Wealth creation is a godly gift; God says that He gives the ability to create wealth. (Deut. 8:18)

Let’s look at the context of this statement in Deuteronomy chapter eight. The people of Israel have been brought out of Egypt and are about to enter the Promised Land. God tells them what to expect and what to do. He explicitly states that there are good business prospects in mining and agriculture. People are admonished to seize these opportunities. As a result, wealth will be created. But then a danger arises, or rather, two potential pitfalls.

Firstly, God says there is a risk that people will think and say that they themselves have created wealth, failing to acknowledge the Lord in it. This is what precedes verse 18. So God reminds them that He is the one who gives the gift and ability to create wealth.

Secondly, wealth creation is put into the context of the Covenant. God entered into a Covenant with Abraham and his descendants that He blessed them so they could bless others – locally and globally. But, one could say blessings are beyond words. To bless others is to create all kinds of wealth and in turn, share it. This is indeed a part of the Covenant. And one mustn’t forget God – the initiator of the Covenant.

Wealth creation processes, done through business, should be mindful of both God and others. We should always have this dual goal: to do business for God and the common good. It makes a difference. Noah and his sons undertook a massive engineering project with this perspective and it led to the salvation of mankind and creation. An equally impressive construction project was the Tower of Babel. However God was left out of this project, and, built on selfish motives, it led to the breakdown of society.

The gift and calling to create wealth is beyond a micro finance loan or a single small or medium size business. It is about building nations, and seeking the welfare of cities.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city.” (Jer. 29)

Here the people of Israel are in exile. They are in a country they didn’t choose. But they mustn’t sit and sulk, simply go into survival mode, or withdraw into religious ceremonies and meetings. No, they are commanded to start businesses, develop the local economy, and in doing so strive for shalom. Shalom is whole relationships filled with integrity. Business is about relationships with customers, clients, suppliers, staff, community, city, and environment. Seek shalom with all these partners and entities, as you seek to create wealth and prosperity for cities and nations.

Pope Francis writes: “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.” *

Wealth creation is a godly gift. Use it – for God and the common good.

Business is deeply divine and deeply human. Doing business reflects who God is, and who we are. God is the Creator; making good things for himself and others. The triune God created in community for community, including Adam and Eve. We are created in God’s image, and thus we also create – in this case, good products and services.

Genesis tells us that God did quality control at the end of each creation / production day, and found the products good. We also strive for excellence in business.

God told Adam and Eve to work in the garden; by sowing one seed they could reap twenty. Thus they were involved in a value-add process. They received a good return on their investment, ROI, and made a profit.

Work, creativity, value added processes, profit, ROI, product development, quality control, and serving the common good – business fundamentals – are all found in the first chapters of the Bible.

Remember the Soviet Union? It was communist country with a planned centralized economy, violations of human rights were prevalent, and it also lacked freedoms to act in the market place. I was there – witnessed a dysfunctional state first hand. It was like a giant statue with feet of clay, and it did eventually fall over and implode in December 1991.

One country became 15 countries. One currency became 15 currencies. One grand artificial and dysfunctional economic system crumbled and 15 new nations had to re-group and try to adjust to a market based global economy.

I kept traveling to the now former Soviet Union, and kept working in Central Asia, in the ‘stans’: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and so forth. But it wasn’t just geopolitical changes and turmoil. A lot of Christian agencies came to the region from all over the world. We also witnessed a quite remarkable growth of people from a Muslim background becoming followers of Jesus.

At the same time there was an exponential growth of unemployment and underemployment. It was on a scale that most of us find hard to fathom. With it came all kinds of social problems. How could we as followers of Jesus respond to this need? Business people were needed. But churches and mission agencies did not call upon the people qualified to address these challenges.

So in the mid-90’s we started to explore how we could engage, equip and connect Christians in business with the needs and opportunities in the Central Asia region. We started the Central Asia Business Consultation and ran it for ten years. The lessons learned, including developing processes and networks to listen, learn, share and connect, were foundational for the development of the global think tanks on Business as Mission.

A second game changer was the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. If our sole success criterion is church planting and growth, Rwanda was probably the ultimate success story in the history of church and missions. It went from 0 to approximately 90 percent of the population becoming members of various churches in about 100 years. But in the spring of 1994 about one million people were killed in just a few months. It literally was Christians killing Christians. Rwanda had people in church but not church in people. The gospel had not transformed ethnic relations, politics and media.

These tragic events forced me to review our mission. What is the mission of the church? How can we serve people and nations towards a holistic transformation, believing that God can transform individuals and communities, churches and nations? What does it mean to be a Christian in the marketplace? How can we do business as mission, law as mission, education as mission, and city planning as mission? How can we serve God and the common good? What does it mean in practice and what are the lessons learned regarding seeking the Shalom and prosperity of cities and nations? (Jer. 29) How do we affirm, equip and deploy business people to exercise theirs gifts of wealth creation for the nations? (Deut. 8)

20 years ago we could not credibly talk about a global BAM movement. Today – by the grace of God – we can. The two global BAM think tank processes, starting in 2002, have been instrumental in bringing about a global cohesion and understanding of the BAM concept. They have also created an unprecedented connectedness of people and ideas.

It has been an exciting journey, both surprising and overwhelming. But it is a true privilege to be a part of global community who are on a rediscovery journey of Biblical truths on work, justice, business, profit and creating in community for community. We are witnessing a great reawakening in the church worldwide. May this lead to a reformation, as we shape and reshape our businesses for God and the common good.

Business as Mission, BAM, is not a technique. It is a worldview and a lifestyle. It is about following Jesus in the marketplace – to the ends of the earth; loving God and serving people through business.

BAM is not doing business with a touch of ‘churchianity’

BAM is not Christians just doing social enterprise.

BAM always considers God as a stakeholder who has a vested interested in multiple bottom lines and multiple stakeholders.

BAM must be underpinned by a Biblical worldview, informing our planning, operations and evaluation.

One very important aspect of worldview is time. This has implications on what we can do and what God does.

This affects how we plan, operate and evaluate a BAM business, aiming at a positive impact on multiple bottom-lines for multiple stakeholders. As we do this, there are extremes to be avoided: we try to quantify and monetize everything, or nothing.

We need to ask: how can God be a stakeholder and how can we aim at a Kingdom of God impact?

This is where Chronos and Kairos come in. These are two words in Greek for time.

Chronos is quantitative, sequential and of course related to the word chronological. We operate in the Chronos, we plan and evaluate in the chronological time, also in business.

Kairos is qualitative, the supreme moment, the right time. This is for example used for God’s intervention, in the fullness of time. We cannot control this, but we can set the stage for it to some extent.

Daniel and his three friends were involved in Civil Service as Mission. In the six first chapters of the book of Daniel we observe:

* Daniel and his friends served God and the nation with professionalism, excellence and integrity. (Chronos)

* God used that to occasionally intervene (Kairos) to bring glory to himself and transform people and nations.

* Most days for Daniel and company were just another day, week, year, decade in the office. But their faithful and good work (in the Chronos) set the stage for miracles and changed lives; in the right moment God intervened. (Kairos)

This is essential as we run BAM businesses. How can we serve our customers, staff and suppliers with professionalism, excellence and integrity? We can and should carefully plan, execute and evaluate accordingly. But we also need to understand that we cannot convert anyone, push through or force a spiritual impact. But what steps can we take in the Chronos to set the stage for Kairos?

Or in the words of the apostle Paul: I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.

Like Daniel and his friends, we must be prepared for another day, week, year, and decade in the business, as we constantly and intentionally shape the business for God and people, for many stakeholders and for multiple bottom-lines.

Chronos and Kairos help us to plan and set reasonable expectations, to see what we can do and what God can do. It can hopefully make us relax and trust God: we plant and water, but God will bring life and growth.